What Is SkyFi? Get to Know SkyFi's Earth Intelligence Platform for Satellite Imagery
SkyFi, is a self-service Earth intelligence platform enabling users to search, task, purchase, and analyze satellite imagery and geospatial analytics from more than 40 commercial providers through a single interface.
Organizations and businesses across so many fundamental industries rely on high-resolution satellite images and geospatial data for daily operations and decision-making. Yet for decades, the process of actually acquiring this data has remained disproportionately difficult.
Founded in 2021 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, the company serves organizations worldwide, replacing weeks of procurement friction with an ordering workflows that enable users to task satellites and order archival satellite imagery that takes minutes.
TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read)
SkyFi is an Earth intelligence platform where users can search, task, purchase, and analyze satellite imagery and geospatial analytics from 300+ satellites across 50+ commercial providers through one interface.
SkyFi serves organizations across the defense, agriculture, insurance, energy, construction, finance, environmental monitoring, government operations, and mining industries.
The platform supports every major imagery type, including optical, SAR, hyperspectral, thermal, and aerial, with no subscription or long-term contract required.
The Satellite Imagery Access Problem
The satellite imagery industry has long suffered from a fragmentation problem. Providers each operate their own ordering systems, pricing structures, licensing terms, and delivery pipelines.
An organization that needs optical satellite imagery data from one provider and SAR data from another must manage two separate vendor relationships, two contracts, and two credential sets.
For enterprise teams and government analysts who require multi-sensor coverage, this overhead adds weeks to every project.
Umbra VP Joe Morrison on Imagery Access
Joe Morrison, VP of Commercial Product at satellite provider Umbra - a SkyFi imagery partner - described the traditional buying experience plainly:
“Have you ever tried to purchase a satellite image? It’s closer to a hostage negotiation than a sales transaction. There will be email introductions, phone calls, lists of demands, let-me-get-back-to-you-on-thats, appeals to lawyers, requests for paperwork, and ultimately…a ransom. Often, the captive is never released.” - Joe Morrison · VP of Commercial Product
The Scarcity of Up-To-Date Satellite Imagery
Free tools like Google Earth offered a preview of what satellite imagery data could reveal, but with imagery that was often months or years out of date and locked at resolutions too coarse for professional applications.
The gap between "free and outdated" and "current and high resolution" was significant, and crossing it required time, budget, and insider knowledge that most organizations did not have.
The SkyFi Story
SkyFi cofounder Bill Perkins encountered these problems through direct experience.
Across ventures in energy trading and maritime intelligence, he relied on remote sensing to answer operational questions: How many drilling crews are active at a given site? Which vessels have disabled their AIS transponders?
The data existed, but acquiring it meant navigating an expensive, exhausting cycle of meetings, contracts, and licensing negotiations.
That frustration became a founding principle. In 2021, Perkins and CEO Luke Fischer launched SkyFi with a clear mission: lower the barrier to access Earth observation data.
The SkyFi Satellite Imagery Solution
SkyFi demonstrates this mission through access to industry-leading satellite imagery and geospatial analytics providers through a single account, one contract, and no long-term commitments or subscriptions required.
SkyFi supports every major imagery type in one place, from high-resolution optical and SAR to hyperspectral, thermal, and aerial data. Users can search the global archive, task new satellite views and captures, and run geospatial analytics without switching tools.
Thanks to its innovative solution, in January 2026, the company raised a $12.7 million Series A co-led by Buoyant Ventures and IronGate Capital Advisors, and was selected to advance to the Mission Track of the NATO DIANA 2026 Defense Innovation Accelerator.
Platform Capabilities
SkyFi is an intelligence platform, not a satellite operator. The platform unifies access to over 300 satellites across more than 50 provider partners, including Vantor (formerly Maxar), Planet Labs, ICEYE US, Umbra, Satellogic, and SIIS, through one account, one contract, and transparent pricing. SkyFi enables users to deploy analytics over imagery in order to quickly get the answers they need.
No subscriptions are required. There is no minimum spend and no long-term contract obligation for standard access.
Five core products are available on the platform:
Archive satellite imagery search
Tasking for new satellite captures
Multi-sensor satellite data
Integrated geospatial analytics
3D modeling capabilities
Archive Satellite Imagery Search and Ordering
SkyFi's global archive supports satellite image search by location, date, resolution, and sensor type. Users can preview scenes before purchasing and compare options from multiple current satellite imagery providers in a single view.
Resolution ranges from 10 meters for broad-area monitoring down to 7.5 centimeters for detailed site inspection. Basemaps provide persistent coverage for ongoing monitoring needs. Delivery formats include GeoTIFF, PNG, and associated metadata.
Satellite Tasking for New Captures
When archive imagery does not meet operational requirements, satellite tasking enables near real-time captures for a specific area of interest (AOI) within the last 24 hours.
Users configure resolution, sensor type, cloud cover threshold, and acquisition window, and SkyFi routes the request across its provider network. Priority tasking, monitoring campaigns, and scheduled collections are all supported.
Multi-Sensor Data: Every Type of Satellite Imagery in One Platform
One of SkyFi's primary differentiators is consolidated multi-sensor access. Through a single interface, the platform provides:
Optical and multispectral imagery for urban monitoring, agricultural analysis, and infrastructure inspection.
Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) for all-weather, day-and-night imaging, essential for maritime monitoring, disaster response, and surface deformation detection.
Hyperspectral imagery capturing hundreds of spectral bands for mineral detection, vegetation analysis, and material classification.
Thermal imagery for fire detection, energy infrastructure monitoring, and industrial anomaly identification.
High resolution aerial imagery from aircraft-based sensors, delivering extremely fine spatial resolution for construction monitoring and urban mapping.
The SkyFi platform also provides access to Sentinel-1 SAR and Sentinel-2 multispectral open data at no cost through its Open Data program.
Integrated Geospatial Analytics
SkyFi integrates analytics that extract insights directly from imagery, removing the need to export data into a separate Geographic Information System (GIS) environment for initial analysis.
Available capabilities include change detection, object detection (vehicles, ships, aircraft, buildings), land use classification, NDVI vegetation health, flood mapping, thermal anomaly detection, vessel detection, vehicle counting, forest carbon measurement, infrastructure resilience mapping, iron ore stockpile measurement, and custom GEOINT analysis projects.
3D Models and Elevation Products
Beyond two-dimensional imagery, SkyFi offers 3D modeling capabilities including digital surface models (DSM), digital terrain models (DTM), point clouds, building extraction, terrain classification, and 3D true ortho products.
Access Methods to Satellite Images
SkyFi is available through multiple channels to account for different operational workflows.
Web Application
The web application provides a browser-based interface for searching imagery, tasking satellites, running analytics, and managing orders. Users can order imagery by location, date, resolution, and sensor type, preview scenes before purchasing, and receive delivered imagery in their account with no subscription or minimum spend required.
Mobile App
The mobile app for iOS and Android supports current satellite imagery ordering and area monitoring in the field. It gives field teams and on-the-go professionals the same core access as the web platform without needing to be at a desktop.
Rowan AI - Your Satellite Imagery AI Navigator
The newest way to access SkyFi is through Rowan, SkyFi's AI navigator for geospatial and satellite data. Rowan is built into the web application and accepts plain-language requests covering the full workflow: archive search, satellite tasking, analytics, and ordering.
Rowan handles all the technical decision-making without requiring users to navigate menus, select providers, or understand resolution specifications. Simply specify the specific location(s) you want to see by typing it into Rowan’s chat interface, and watch the Skyfi platform pull it up in a moment.
The SkyFi API
The SkyFi API is built for developers, data engineers, and geospatial teams that want to automate satellite imagery acquisition and geospatial data inside their own workflows.
Rather than logging into a platform to search and order manually, technical users can connect the API to pull imagery directly into data pipelines, cloud storage systems like AWS and Google Cloud, and analytical tools.
Teams can also schedule recurring orders to monitor an area over time without any manual intervention.
The SkyFi ATAK Plugin
For defense and emergency response operators, the SkyFi ATAK Plugin integrates imagery ordering and analytics directly into the Android Team Awareness Kit (ATAK) environment, enabling satellite data access without leaving the tactical common operating picture. SkyFi’s ATAK plugin enables operators at the edge to access near real-time satellite imagery through their devices in the field so that they can make faster, more informed decisions.
The SkyFi Esri Integration
GIS professionals who work in ArcGIS can bring SkyFi imagery directly into their existing environment through three integration options within the SkyFi Esri Integration: WMTS streaming, the ArcGIS widget, and the SkyFi API.
Individual users and teams can add delivered imagery as WMTS tile layers in ArcGIS Pro or ArcGIS Online, which means the imagery streams in without requiring a manual download.
Enterprise organizations can install the ArcGIS Widget for Esri Experience Builder, which lets users perform a satellite image search, task new captures, and place orders from inside their GIS environment using existing polygon layers or imported shapefiles.
Developers can also connect via the SkyFi API to automate imagery delivery to AWS S3, Google Cloud Storage, or Azure Blob for direct ingestion into ArcGIS.
The SkyFi Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server
The SkyFi MCP server is for users who work inside AI tools and want to access the latest satellite imagery without switching platforms. Once connected, users can search the archive, compare providers, task a new capture, and place an order entirely through plain-language conversation.
The MCP confirms pricing before any charge and supports monitoring for users who want to track a site or facility over time. Setup requires no separate payment or API key; users pay only for the imagery they order and the token costs of their AI platform.
The SkyFi MCP supports the following AI platforms:
Claude
ChatGPT
Cursor
Devin
VS Code
Gemini CLI
Grok
Copilot
Perplexity
Any other custom agent framework that supports MCP
Industries and Applications of High-Resolution Satellite Imagery
SkyFi serves organizations across the following industries:
Defense,
Agriculture,
Insurance,
Energy,
Construction/infrastructure,
Finance,
Environmental monitoring
Mining
Government operations
Military & Defense
Defense and intelligence teams leverage SkyFi for Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) workflows, with the ATAK Plugin integration supporting field operators and through SkyFi Sovereign Intelligence Platforms providing secure satellite tasking for government users.
Agriculture
Agriculture professionals monitor crop health through NDVI analysis, track field conditions across growing seasons, and integrate high resolution satellite imagery into precision agriculture workflows.
Insurance
Insurance companies use before-and-after imagery for underwriting diligence, claims validation, catastrophe response, and environmental risk assessment.
Energy & Infrastructure
Energy and infrastructure operators monitor pipelines, assess renewable energy sites, and track construction progress through change detection analytics.
Finance
Financial services firms use satellite data as an alternative data source for commodity tracking, supply chain monitoring, construction monitoring, and macroeconomic intelligence.
Environmental Monitoring & Mining
Environmental and mining organizations rely on SkyFi for deforestation and wildfire progression tracking, carbon measurement, habitat monitoring, stockpile analysis, and regulatory compliance.
Government Organizations
Government organizations use satellite imagery and geospatial analytics to support urban planning, environmental monitoring, disaster response, and border security.
Agencies can access imagery captured within the last 24 hours to track maritime traffic, monitor infrastructure, and respond to rapidly changing conditions on the ground.
SkyFi Pro: Enterprise Access to Satellite Imagery & Geospatial Data
SkyFi Pro is the enterprise tier of the platform, designed for teams that require advanced tasking parameters, bulk imagery ordering, higher API rate limits, team management, dedicated support, and service-level agreements. Individual Pro plans start at $20 per month. Enterprise Pro starts at $500 per month.
SkyFi also builds white-label platforms for satellite operators to distribute data through SkyFi's infrastructure. Current white-label products include Vantor Connect, ICEYE US Direct, and Planet Select.
SkyFi Satellite Imagery & Geospatial Analytics FAQs
What is SkyFi satellite imagery?
SkyFi is more than just a satellite imagery platform. It is an Earth intelligence platform that gives users one place to search, task, purchase, and analyze satellite imagery and geospatial analytics from more than 50 commercial providers.
How do I get started with SkyFi for satellite data access?
Creating a SkyFi account is completely free, and you can start browsing the satellite imagery catalog without a subscription. Simply search the archive by location, date, resolution, and sensor type, then add what you need to your cart and check out.
SkyFi requires no complex contracts or minimum spend. Developers can also use the API for automated workflow integration, or use Rowan AI to order imagery through plain-language requests.
What types of satellite imagery can I access through SkyFi?
SkyFi provides access to all of the major types of imagery on one platform. Users can obtain high-resolution optical, SAR, hyperspectral, thermal, and aerial imagery, all through one easy-to-use platform.
Resolution ranges from 10 meters down to 7.5 centimeters depending on the sensor and provider. The platform also offers free Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 open data.
How does SkyFi fit into Geographic Information Systems (GIS) workflows?
SkyFi complements GIS workflows by giving users a fast, flexible way to source the latest satellite imagery without disrupting their existing environment. Teams can search the archive, task new captures, and receive imagery inside their GIS environment rather than managing a separate platform.
For Esri users specifically, SkyFi offers WMTS streaming into ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Online, an ordering widget for ArcGIS Enterprise, and API-based delivery to cloud storage for automated pipeline ingestion.
How is SkyFi different from Google Earth?
Google Earth provides free satellite imagery that is often months or years out of date at a fixed resolution. SkyFi provides access to current, high resolution satellite imagery from commercial providers, with satellite tasking for new captures, sensor type selection, and integrated analytics.
The platform is built for professional and enterprise use cases that require timely, accurate, and actionable geospatial data.
Does SkyFi offer an API?
Yes. SkyFi offers an API for programmatic access to imagery search, satellite tasking, analytics execution, and order management. The API supports cloud delivery to AWS S3 and Google Cloud Storage, enabling integration with existing geospatial workflows and enterprise data pipelines.
Get Started
SkyFi accounts are free to create. Explore the global archive, preview imagery, and place an order on the SkyFi web application or mobile app. For enterprise requirements, book a demo to see how SkyFi Pro supports large-scale operations.
Related Satellite News & Stories from SkyFi
Everything You Need to Know About High-Resolution Satellite Imagery
A Guide to Understanding the Satellite Image Resolution Spectrum
Sources Medium, Joe Morrison: The Commercial Satellite Imagery Business Model Is Broken
Kat Tungol is the Product Marketing Manager at SkyFi, with a background in remote sensing and professional training as a licensed geologist. She works at the intersection of geospatial science and product marketing, translating complex Earth observation capabilities into clear, practical value for users.
